Title: It's a 'socialist' bank — and North Dakota Republicans love it URL Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/29/bank-north-dakota-socialism-election.html Published Time: 2026-10-29T10:00:01+0000 Markdown Content:  watch now BISMARCK, N.D. — In 1918, an offshoot of the [progressive](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/17/democratic-socialists-top-maga-candidates-all-america-poll.html) farmer-labor movement known as the Nonpartisan League swept into power in [North Dakota](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/top-states-for-business-north-dakota.html), riding a [populist](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/14/trump-republicans-economic-populism.html) groundswell of anger directed at big [banks](https://www.cnbc.com/banks/) and industry barons in Minneapolis and Chicago.
The group was organized by former [Socialist](https://www.cnbc.com/socialism/) Party member Arthur C. Townley, a failed flax farmer who barnstormed the state in a borrowed Ford Model T calling for public ownership of key industries, including banks, mills and factories.
By 1919, the state legislature authorized a state-owned and -operated bank. Over a century later, the [Bank of North Dakota](https://bnd.nd.gov/) still stands, and the state is reaping the benefits.
The Bank of North Dakota is the nation’s only surviving state-owned and -operated bank. It has persisted as Great Plains politics has shifted from prairie progressivism to deep-red conservatism, and it now manages about $11 billion in assets while enjoying broad support from the state’s current political leaders.
Bank of North Dakota headquarters, in Bismarck, North Dakota, circa 1935 Source: North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum “I think it’s weird, right?
We’re one of the most conservative states in the union, and we have this state-run bank that was started by first-generation Norwegian immigrants,” North Dakota Gov. [Kelly Armstrong](https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/09/27/rep-kelly-armstrong-every-day-we-get-closer-to-a-shutdown-our-leverage-goes-away.html), a Republican, told CNBC.